Chinese DVDs

[tlyoung]

While surfing the net on right and left brain learning I found the blog below and comments about the Baby Learns Chinese and Sing to Learn Chinese DVDs.  Has anyone here pruchased these?  What do you think of them?

http://imomonline.net/?p=3215

Baby Learns Chinese Series

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/TPI5lC6CZWk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/TPI5lC6CZWk&rel=1</a> (sorry I don't know how to post it so you can see the video, yes I am computer challenged)

Sing to Learn Chinese Series.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/IR3-OLkDHVE&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/IR3-OLkDHVE&rel=1</a>

[sarahjean]

I haven't used either of these, but here is my opinion solely based on the videos you posted:

The first one, which uses the phonetics used to read pinyin, is very well made but if you plan to teach your child English phonetics as well, I would steer clear of it. The Pinyin phonics system is not the same as the English, but close enough (yet not the same) that teaching the two would be VERY confusing. I have a set of Pinyin phonetic cards, but I don't use them with my girls yet. You are much better off going with a whole-word-recognition (the Chinese characters) approach when it comes to Chinese.

The second video looks great! I liked that even as someone who is not completely fluent in Chinese I was able to understand the song because the words and the animation are very cohesive. In fact, I liked it so much that I may look into purchasing it myself!

Good luck and I look forward to seeing if anyone else has reviews based on experience. 

[hypatia]

I have both. Baby learns chinese is great for babies. I wouldn't show it to my two year old anymore unless I want to do a quick review.
Sing to learn is excellent. I didn't like the singing voice at first; I was finding it irritating but my daughter adores it. There is a lot to be learned in just one dvd.

[aangeles]

Hi tlyoung,

I have both Baby Learns Chinese and Sing to Learn / Wink to Learn Chinese.

The BLC videos are multisensory videos much like YBCR. The videos flash the Chinese words followed by live action videos of the meaning of the words and are great for introducing Chinese words and sounds to babies. There are two songs interspersed within each lesson that use the vocabulary taught in that lesson. My daughter learned to read her first Chinese words using these videos. I agree with hypatia that these videos would probably be too boring/slow for a 2-year-old but I think they would be just right for your 5-month-old. I agree with sarahjean too that for Chinese, I would steer clear of Pin Yin until your child is reading phonetically and fluently in English. It would really be confusing for them since the same letter has different letter sounds in English versus Pin Yin e.g. the letter "q" is pronounced as "k" in English but more like "ch" in Pin Yin. In addition, the Chinese language is particularly suited for teaching via the whole word approach because each character actually represents one word. And if the child learns to read Chinese via the whole word approach, he/she would actually be better off because he wouldn't need to rely on Pin Yin or Zhu Yin (another pronunciation guide used mostly in Taiwan) or any other crutches to read Chinese later on. Pin Yin would be useful though for parents who don't speak Chinese, for typing/inputing text into the computer, for looking up things in the dictionary, so I will still be teaching Ella Pin Yin but much later on - maybe when she is 5 or 6. The BLC videos do have volumes 1-6 apart from the phonics video (the one you posted) which teaches whole word reading. Check out the previews here: http://www.babylearnschinese.com/putongua/index_en.aspx?cmd=products&lan=eng

Free chinese flashcards are included if you buy the boxsets: http://www.babylearnschinese.com/ptg09/default.aspx?cmd=products

[aangeles]

The Sing to Learn DVD is a complementary product to Wink to Learn. These are also videos for teaching Chinese vocabulary and reading but are more right brain than BLC (which are more multisensory in approach). The pictures are flashed quickly followed by the Chinese words in true Doman style. There are 6 volumes of Chinese and the latter 2 cover couplets and sentences. Thus, the WTL videos cover a much wider vocabulary and progresses to phrase and sentence construction. If your baby likes flashcards and right brain methods, these videos give better value for the money. But if you can afford it, I would get both so that there is variety and reinforcement. I got the Sing to Learn 3-volume music CDs (same songs as on the Sing to Learn DVD you posted) as a bonus for buying the WTL package. They also have free international shipping.

http://www.winktolearn.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=3&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2

http://www.winktolearn.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=8&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2

They have Speech and Drama Chinese DVDs planned for release soon.

Hope this helps! 

[paddycakes]

HI Guys,

I also have the Sing to Learn, and my 3 year old son quite enjoys it though after a while he find the animations rather boring. He loves Taoshu esp the English DVDs but now they also have the Chinese DVDs that teach Chinese Culture/history/traditional arts/food etc.

It's quite a great series (5 in total I think) worth a look? I think you can get them at this site.

www.learnchinesebooks.com

[aangeles]

Hi paddycakes,

My daughter loves Taoshu and Ling-Ling! We have all four sets of the Taoshu books and she will not go to bed without reading at least 3-4 Taoshu books each night. We don't have the English DVDs but I was also interested in the Chinese 5-DVD set that you mentioned and there is a sample video clip on this thread:

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-signing-speaking-foreign-languages/singapore-parents-is-anyone-familiar-with-the-taoshu-chinese-dvds/

I haven't actually bought them yet as I am waiting for the Traditional Chinese version to be released, but I will definitely be getting them.

By the way, the Shapes books from the same publisher are also great! My daughter, who learned to read Chinese using the Wo Hui Du series of books, can now read about 80-90% of the words in the Taoshu and Shapes stories and is learning new characters everyday. They are the only Doman-style Chinese books I have found and the stories and illustrations are very unique and interesting.

 

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